Number of clients soars at food pantry

On Jan. 1, 2011, Ed Hamilton parked the over-the-road truck he was driving for the last time.
“I was getting awfully tired of being gone from home all the time,” Hamilton said late Thursday morning, as he waited to fill out paperwork at the Iola Area Ministerial Association’s Food Pantry.
“I’ve gotten some help here before,” Hamilton said, who allowed he and wife Kathy, who is disabled, also had received assistance through U.S. Department of Agriculture food stamps.
“I’ve been looking for work,” since he walked away from truck driving, but hasn’t found anything. “I just keep looking, but I’ve had no luck.”
In addition to providing for themselves, the Hamiltons care for a 14-year-old grandson, and have since he was a baby.

THE NUMBER  of people seeking assistance has increased the past couple of months, said the Rev. Tom Waters, who became panty director a month ago when the Rev. Phil Honeycutt left after years of managing the facility.
Tuesday of this week 19 families, representing 60 individuals, came for assistance, Waters said. He expects numbers to pick up more next week, being the last week of the month when government assistance going to many down on their luck starts to flag.
Waters said the school district’s summer lunch program ending in early July also likely had a role in numbers increasing this month.
“Other than that I don’t know why,” he said. “Is it the economy? I just don’t know for sure. I do know we’ve had a lot more people than we did four months ago.”
While he has been director just a month, Waters has been involved on the pantry’s board for a couple of years, giving him a history with distributions.
The influx has put a strain on resources.
“We have plenty of produce,” he said, thanks to local gardeners sharing an uptick in their harvests. “We do need canned goods” and other non-perishable foods. “I thought we’d be OK from all the letter carriers collected (in their annual drive in early May) but that food has gone out pretty quickly.”
Many Iola churches collect food for the pantry on the first Sunday of each month.
Other sources of food are Walmart, through its Feed America Program, and the Kansas Food Bank, supported by food over-runs and donations from large companies. Walmart contributions — two pickup loads arrived late Thursday morning — are free. The ministerial group purchases food, albeit it at a deep discount, from the food bank in Wichita.
In addition to canned goods, the pantry could use an infusion of meat, Waters added. Meat is available through the food bank, but it comes with a bit of a higher price tag, particularly since the cost of beef has soared of late because of a shortage of cattle in the food chain.
“We need another good refrigerator-freezer,” he said, in hopes that someone in the area might have one they’d be willing to donate. “But it needs to be a good one,” not one that’s old and worn out.
The pantry also “seriously needs donations of money,” Water said, to purchase what the food bank has to offer.

“WE HAVE about 10 volunteers,” Waters said, with his plea for more amply evident Thursday morning as those on task were scurrying about the pantry building, at the corner of Washington and Broadway streets.
“I’d like to have at least three or four more,” he said.
Iola’s Sonic Industries provides volunteer assistance by transporting food made available by Walmart from its store on North State Street.
“That’s a huge help,” Water said.
During the winter the ministerial association has a program, Church Utility Relief Board (CURB), to help with utility payments, but it doesn’t start until November and is not a factor in today’s operation of the pantry. The Rev. Paul Miller, Assembly of God minister, will work with CURB.
The Assembly of God also took over operation of the pantry when Honeycutt stepped aside. Before, his church, Covenant of Faith, was its sponsor within the ministerial association.
Waters, who retired to Iola with wife Jeri from 49 years of ministering to churches throughout the Midwest and West Virginia, said working with the pantry “was a joy; it’s very satisfying to help people.”
The pantry’s hours are 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. The lion’s share of its recipient are Iolans, but anyone in Allen County is welcome.
Humboldt has a similar program, with outreach in several of the county’s smaller towns.